Suspected robbery Swedish crowns arrested

The authorities have arrested a suspect of the theft of two crowns and a national apple from the Swedish royal family.

Thieves ran away at the end of July with the funeral regalia of King Karl IX and his wife Queen Kristina. The valuables were at that time in the cathedral of Strängnäs. The perpetrators took the valuable spoils and fled on a motorboat. The authorities have not disclosed the identity of the suspect.

The stolen regalia from 1611 do not belong to the Swedish crown jewels as such. They lie behind the lock and key in the treasury of the Royal Palace in Stockholm. But in the seventeenth century and before that was the use to give deceased princes symbols of their dignity in the grave. The crowns of Karl IX and Kristina and the apple are specially made for that purpose.